System and method for utilizing district metering areas based on meter designations

ABSTRACT

A computer implemented method implemented on a computer system includes non-transient memory storing instructions for configuring a plurality of district metering areas within a utility supply network. The method includes identifying a plurality of flow measurement devices, wherein each flow measurement device is connected by a directional connection to at least one other flow measurement device, generating a utility supply network representation based on the directional connections between the flow measurement devices, and generating a plurality of district metering areas for the utility supply network representation, each district metering area being a directed acyclic graph based on the directional connections and including a subset of the plurality of flow measuring devices and including at least one flow measurement device designated as a supply meter and at least one flow measurement device designated as a demand meter.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to designation, formation and utilization ofdistrict metering areas in a utility supply network. More particularly,the invention is directed to a system and method for implementing andutilizing one or more district meter areas based on designations of theutility meters in the utility supply network to manage and improve theoperation of the utility supply network.

BACKGROUND

A utility supply network is utility specific system including at leastone utility source, a distribution network, and one or more utilityusage endpoints. For example, a water utility supply network may includeone or more of a drainage basin, a water collection point such as alake, river, aquifer, a water purification plant, etc. as a watersource, a water pipe network for distributing the water, and one or morehomes, businesses, fountains, hydrants, etc. receiving the water fromthe water pipe network as water usage endpoint. These systems areusually owned and maintained by local governments, such as cities, orother public entities, but are occasionally operated by a commercialenterprise.

Utilities monitor the utility supply throughout the utility supplynetwork. For example, a utility typically monitors the net amount of autility supply entering a utility supply network from utility source(s),the utility supply within the supply network, the supply network itself,the utility supply delivered at utility supply endpoints, etc. Theutility supply and the utility supply network are monitored to identifyusage, quality, etc. as well as to identify potential issues such asoutages, theft, leakage, contamination, etc. For example, a utility candetect utility supply loss by subtracting the utility supply added tothe utility supply network from the water source(s) minus the aggregateamount removed from the utility supply network at the utility usageendpoint. The amount removed from the utility supply network at theutility usage endpoint is monitored by utility meters specific to theusage endpoint and communicated to the utility. The utility supply losscan be caused by a variety of issues such as theft, metering issues,utility supply network breakages such as pipe breaks, power line breaks,etc., utility supply network deterioration such as leaky pipes, agingwiring, etc.

Utility supply loss can have a significant impact for a number ofreasons. The utility supply loss can have a significant environmentalimpact. For example, water is becoming a scare commodity and lossesincrease the amount of water that is removed with lakes, rivers,aquifers, etc. in order to meet user demand. Further, water leakage cancause erosion, property damages, infrastructure damage, sinkholes, etc.that have negative economic and safety consequences. Utility supply losscan also have a significant financial impact for the utility supplier.

Although monitoring inputs and outputs to utility supply networks hasbeen recognized as valuable, the value of monitoring only inputs andoutputs to the entire utility supply network has dropped as networksincrease in size and complexity. For example, a water supply network mayhave a loop or branch network topology, or a combination of both, pipingnetworks may be circular or rectangular, may include miles of pipes,etc.

To manage the complexity, utility supply networks may be divided intozones or district metering areas (DMA). Each DMA may be designated bythe utility to include a water supply area with flow in to or out ofeach area metered by flowmeters. Each zone typically has one or moremeters measuring flow into the zone, designated as a supply meter andseveral meters measuring usage within the zone, designated as demandmeters. Accordingly, every flow meter within a designated zone isassigned to the same District Metering Area and designated as either asupply meter or a demand meter. The aggregate of the district meteringareas is typically the entire utility supply network.

Managers of utility supply networks use zone information for a varietyof applications to improve the overall control of the utility beingsupplied. For example, in a water supply network, applications caninclude calculation of water loss, identification and quantification ofunaccounted for water, deduct metering, leak detection, computer sizing,and numerous other applications. Given the variety in utilization of theinformation associated with district meeting areas, it is important toproperly designate the utility meters within a DMA and within a supplynetwork as a whole based on the application to be implemented.Accordingly, software may be used to designate each meter in a utilitysupply network to a DMA based on a variety of factors. However, suchDMAs are inherently limited to a simple network topology that may not besufficient to maximize DMA utility for complex network topologies and/orvariable DMA information utilization.

What is needed is a system and method configured to facilitatespecification of a representation of a utility supply network using oneor more district metering areas in a complex supply network. What isfurther needed is such software where the meters in the utility supplynetwork are designated as supply meters or demand meters for differentdistrict metering areas.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention provides a system for facilitating representation of autility supply network using one or more district metering areas wherethe meters in the utility supply network are designated as supply metersor demand meters for different district metering areas. The designationgreatly simplifies the specification of a network graph to represent adistrict metering area. Further, such designation facilitatesvisualization of the utility consumption for a zone in terms of allsupplies versus all demands. The district metering areas further improverecognition and notification functions for triggering events.

In one more detailed aspect a computer implemented method implemented ona computer system including non-transient memory storing instructionsfor configuring a plurality of district metering areas within a utilitysupply network is shown. The method includes identifying a plurality offlow measurement devices, wherein each flow measurement device isconnected by a directional connection to at least one other flowmeasurement device, generating a utility supply network representationbased on the directional connections between the flow measurementdevices, and generating a plurality of district metering areas for theutility supply network representation, each district metering area beinga directed acyclic graph based on the directional connections andincluding a subset of the plurality of flow measuring devices andincluding at least one flow measurement device designated as a supplymeter and at least one flow measurement device designated as a demandmeter. At least one flow measurement device may be designated as asupply meter in a first district metering area and designated as ademand meter in a second district metering area.

In an exemplary embodiment, the method includes generating a listing offlow measurement devices that are not included in a subset for adistrict metering area for the utility supply network representation.

In another embodiment, the method includes determining a net utilityflow discrepancy based on a comparison of the aggregate supply flow,measured by flow meters designated as supply meters, and the aggregatedemand flow, measured by flow meters designated as demand meters.

In another embodiment, the method includes replacing one or more metersin a district metering area based on a determination that the aggregatesupply flow has been less than the aggregate demand flow over one of adefined period of time and a defined amount. Alternatively and/oradditionally, the method may include initiating loss mitigation in adistrict metering area based on a determination that the aggregatesupply flow has been greater than the aggregate demand flow over one ofa defined period of time and a defined amount or modifying the operationof one or more flow measurement devices based on the determined netutility flow discrepancy.

In another more detailed aspect, a computer system executinginstructions, stored in non-transient memory, for configuring aplurality of district metering areas within a utility supply network isprovided. The system includes a network control system configured toidentify a plurality of flow measurement devices, wherein each flowmeasurement device is connected by a directional connection to at leastone other flow measurement device and generate a utility supply networkrepresentation based on the directional connections between the flowmeasurement devices. The system further includes a district meteringsystem configured to generate a plurality of district metering areas forthe utility supply network representation, each district metering areabeing a directed acyclic graph based on the directional connections andincluding a subset of the plurality of flow measuring devices andincluding at least one flow measurement device designated as a supplymeter and at least one flow measurement device designated as a demandmeter. At least one flow measurement device may be designated as asupply meter in a first district metering area and designated as ademand meter in a second district metering area.

Other aspects of the invention, besides those discussed above, will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the description ofthe preferred embodiments which follows. In the description, referenceis made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich illustrate examples of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a utility supply network environment for monitoring andcontrolling provision of a utility supply to endpoints, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 2A-B are block diagram representations of exemplary utility supplynetworks, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating examplary components of thenetwork control system of FIG. 1, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a network control interface including a network informationbar identifying the utility supply network being controlled, the numberof meters in the utility supply network, and a currently selecteddistrict metering area, according to an exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the steps implemented by the DMAalgorithm stored in the memory to configure a district metering area,according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring first to FIG. 1, a utility supply network environment 100 formonitoring and controlling provision of a utility supply to endpoints isshown, according to an exemplary embodiment. The utility supply networkenvironment 100 includes a network control system 110, a networkcommunication system 120, and a utility supply network 130. Utilitysupply network environment 100 may have a variety of configurations andinclude additional systems such as a billing system, a utility supplymonitoring system, a utility supply quality control system, etc. thatare not shown in this simplified environment.

Utility supply network control system 110 is provided for collectingflow measurement data from a network of flow measurement devices 132 inthe utility supply network 130, such as utility meters, distributedwithin a geographic area served by a utility. The network control system110 typically is connected to additional systems, such as a billingcomputer (not shown) which requests data and imports a data file fromthe control system 10 to obtain meter data to produce customerstatements of account for utility usage, a monitoring system formonitoring exception conditions such as leakage or tampering or shut-offconditions, a quality monitoring system for detecting any issues withthe utility being supplied such as contamination, degradation, etc. Itis also possible that, in some embodiments, the functions of theseseparate computers could be combined in a single computer runningmultiple application programs. In this exemplary embodiment, the systemis described as being a water utility supply network, however, in otherembodiments, the utility can a different type of utility, such as gas orelectricity.

The control system 110 communicates with utility supply network 130through network communication system 120. In the exemplary communicationsystem 120 shown, control system 110 communicates over a wide areanetwork (WAN) 121, such as the Internet, to a router 123. Router 123, inturn, communicates with utility supply network 130 through a receiver125 receiving radio frequency (RF) signals 127, as described in furtherdetail below. Sometimes the receiver 125 is also referred to as a“gateway” because it interfaces between the local area wireless networkand another longer-range network 121.

Utility supply network 130 includes a network of flow measurementdevices 132, each including a utility meter, a transducer and an RF(radio frequency) transmitter and a utility supply conduit 134. In thisexample, the units 132 can be meter reading and transmitting unitscommercially offered under the Orion® trademark or the Galaxy® trademarkby the assignee of the present invention. These flow measurement devices132 transmit radio frequency (RF) signals 127 to a receiver 125 to forma local area wireless network. It should be understood that there istypically more than one receiver 125 in a network, although only one isillustrated in FIG. 1. In an exemplary embodiment, the flow measurementdevices 132 may be or include sensors for sensing other types ofconditions at the utility meter or in supply links connected to theutility meters. These sensors may be connected to Orion® or Galaxy®radio transmitters to transmit status data to the receiver 125.

Utility supply network 130 is shown in an abbreviated form in FIG. 1 forillustrative purpose. One of ordinary skill in the art would understandthat network 130 may include hundreds or thousands of flow measurementdevices 132 and miles of utility supply conduit. Further, the type,configuration, size, etc. of the network 130 will vary greatly dependingon the utility supply needs. For example, a large city having a largenumber of residential, commercial and industrial locations withsignificant terrain variations will have a significantly more complexnetwork 130 than a small residential community. Exemplary networks 130are shown and described below with reference to FIGS. 2A-2B toillustrate a few possible configurations of supply networks.

The flow measurement devices 132 transmit data-encoded RF signals overlow power RF frequencies either in the non-FCC-licensed ISM(Industrial-Scientific-Medical) band from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. (Orion®AMR systems) or in the FCC-licensed frequencies such as 150-200 Mhz, 325MHz, 433.92 MHz or from 450 to 470 MHz (Galaxy® AMR systems). The flowmeasurement devices 132 transmit flow and other meter data to an RFreceiver 125, which in this case is an Orion® receiver, that isconnected via a wired Ethernet local network 126 to a WAN (Internet)router 123. In other embodiments, a wireless connection between thereceiver and the router can be used. The router 123 is connected to awide area network 121, in this embodiment to the Internet. In anotherembodiment, the receiver 125 is a gateway receiver of the type offeredunder the Galaxy® trademark. The control system 110 is also connected tothe wide area network 121, the Internet, and can address the receivers125 at a receiver network address which can be an Internet Protocol (IP)address of the format WWW.XXX.YYY.ZZZ—where W, X, Y and Z are values ina range from “0” to “255”, such as for example: 192.168.1.175. Thereceiver network address can also be a uniform resource locator (URL) inthe form: http://www.google.com. As used herein, the term “meter data”should be understood to include either utility consumption data orcondition status data, or both. Condition status data includes leakdetection data, tamper data and shut-off valve data and other types ofdata concerning meter operation besides actual utility consumption data.

The method and system of the present invention is implemented by controlsystem 110 with network access to the Internet 121. The method of theinvention includes communication with the receiver(s) 125 using areceiver network address that has been preset in the receiver 125 andprovided to the control system 110. The control system 110 operatesunder the control of a stored computer program including a districtmetering area configuration routine, as represented by FIG. 5. Theblocks in the illustrations in FIG. 5 represent one or more programinstructions in the stored computer program that are executed by aprocessor in the control system 110. The computer program is stored inthe memory in the control system 110 but can also be stored in atangible data storage medium or in a file for transmission on theInternet.

The invention provides a method and a system for the collection of meterdata from the flow measurement devices 132 of the utility supply networkand for providing improved utility supply network control based onallocation of the flow measurement devices 132 into district meteringareas as described below. The improvement to utility supply networkcontrol is provided by improving the generation and monitoring ofdistrict metering areas as described below with reference to FIGS. 2-4.

Referring now also to FIG. 2A, a utility supply network 200 is shownaccording to an exemplary embodiment. Utility supply network 200 may bea virtual representation of an actual utility supply network including,e.g., pipes and meters. Utility systems essentially form a network thatrepresents a computational graph. Specifying this network in a way thatis simple and easy to define and uses a challenge. A utility supplynetwork may have thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions offlow measurement devices. Network control system 110 is configured toimplement a system and method of identifying and describing a DMA zoneby designating each meter as a supply or demand meter for the zone. Thisminimal information will allow it utility supplier to perform analyticssuch as validating the integrity of the network and identifying usagecharacteristics and anomalies such as water loss.

Utility supply network 200 includes a plurality of flow measurementdevices 132 measuring flow into and out of the supply network 200.Utility supply network 200 is a simple supply network such as would befound for an apartment building wherein each of the units in theapartment complex is separately metered. Accordingly, in this example,supply network 200 includes an apartment building flow measurementdevice 202 measuring from the flow being received from, e.g., amunicipal water supply, and distributed to a plurality of apartment unitflow measurement devices 204 measuring the flow used by each of theindividual apartment units. In this example, the municipal water supplyis the utility source, the apartment pipes are the distribution network,and the individual apartments are the utility usage endpoint. One ofordinary skill in the art would be able to appreciate that supplynetwork 200 may be used to model distribution to residences on a citystreet, distribution from a water reservoir to local distributionstations, etc.

The network control system 110 is configured to generate a districtmetering area 210 for the utility supply network. Each district meteringarea includes at least one flow measurement device measuring flow intothe district metering area (supply meter(s)) and at least one flowmeasurement device measuring flow out of the district metering area(demand meter(s)). Each meter may be identifiable with a unique Meter_IDknown by both the flow measurement device and network control system110. Continuing the apartment example from above, the apartment buildingflow measurement device 202 can be designated as a supply meter and usedto measure the flow into the DMA 210, while the plurality of apartmentunit flow measurement devices 204 can be designated as a demand metersand used to measure the flow out of the DMA 210.

Network control system 110 is configured to receive data from the flowmeasurement devices 202, 204 to determine the flow into and out of theDMA 210. In this embodiment, the flow into DMA 210 is the flow measuredby the apartment building flow measurement device 202 and the flow outof the DMA is the aggregation of the flow measured by all of theapartment unit flow measurement devices 204. Network control system 110may be configured to generate both of a visualization of the districtmetering area 210 as shown in FIG. 2A and a tabular record of the flowmeasurement devices. For example, Table 1 below shows an exemplaryembodiment of a table representing the utility supply network of FIG.2A.

TABLE 1 Meter_ID Supply_Zone_ID Demand_Zone_ID M1 Zone 1 M2 Zone 1 M3Zone 1 M4 Zone 1 M5 Zone 1 M6 Zone 1

Utility supply network 200 is a simple representation of a limitedutility supply network. In practice, utility supply networks aresignificantly more complex. Utility supply networks may include multipleutility sources, complex, looping and/or redundant networks of conduit,and a significant number of flow measurement devices. Referring now toFIG. 2B, a utility supply network 220 illustrating a utility supplynetwork having some aspects representative of the types of complexitiesencountered in implementing a utility supply network is shown, accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

Utility supply network 220 may be another virtual representation of autility supply network. In this example, network control system 110 isconfigured to implement a system and method of identifying anddescribing a plurality of DMA zones by designating each meter as asupply or demand meter for the zone, wherein a meter may includedifferent designations in different zones.

Utility supply network 220 again includes a plurality of flowmeasurement devices 132 measuring flow into and out of the supplynetwork 220. In this example, utility supply network 220 includes twoutility supply source meters 222. Utility supply source meters 222 maybe water meters measuring flow from a water reservoir and from a waterpurification facility, for example. The utility supply network furtherincludes a plurality of water distribution site meters 224 receiving thewater from the sources and further distributing it within supply network220. Each water distribution site meter 224 may be associated with adifferent purpose. For example, the flow measurement device havingMeter_ID M3 may be distributing water to an endpoint meter 226 havingMeter_ID M7 associated with an industrial property. Flow measurementdevices having Meter_IDs M4 and M5 may be distributing water to anendpoint meters 226 having Meter_IDs M8-M10 associated with commercialproperties. The network 220 also includes a meter 226 having Meter_ID M9that is receives water being measured by both the meter 224 havingMeter_ID M4 and the meter 224 having Meter_ID M5. Flow measurementdevices having Meter_ID M6 may be distributing water to an endpointmeters 226 having Meter_IDs M11-M16 associated with residentialproperties.

In this example, the network control system 110 may be configured togenerate a first district metering area 230 designating utility supplysource meters 222 as supply meters for the zone and water distributionsite meters 224 as demand meters for the zone. As in the example fromabove, the flow measurement devices 222 can be designated as supplymeters and the aggregate flow used to measure the flow into the DMA 230,while the endpoint devices 226 can be designated as a demand meters andused to measure the flow out of the DMA 230. However, it can beappreciated that the utility of this information is limited in view ofthe complexity of the network 220. Net utility flow discrepanciesbetween inflows at flow measurement devices 222 and flow measurementdevices 224 will not properly represent the entirety of network 220,while net utility flow discrepancies between inflows at flow measurementdevices 222 and flow measurement devices 226 may be attributable to anyaspect of the supply network 220 and difficult to address.

Accordingly, network control system 110 may be configured to generate aplurality of additional district metering areas for supply network 220.In this embodiment, network control system 110 is further configured toallow designation for each of the flow measurement devices to one ormore district metering areas. Further, a flow measurement device may bedesignated as a supply meter in a first district metering area and ademand meter in a second district metering area. For example, Table 2below shows an exemplary embodiment of a table representing the utilitysupply network of FIG. 2B implementing second district metering area240, third district metering area 250, and fourth district metering area250.

TABLE 2 Meter_ID Supply_Zone_ID Dentand_Zone_ID M1 Zone 1 M2 Zone 1 M3Zone 2 Zone 1 M4 Zone 3 Zone 1 M5 Zone 3 Zone 1 M6 Zone 4 Zone 1 M7 Zone2 M8 Zone 3 M9 Zone 3  M10 Zone 3  M11 Zone 4  M12 Zone 4  M13 Zone 4 M14 Zone 4  M15 Zone 4

Referring now to FIG. 3, network control module 360 is configured tocooperatively implement a network control interface 400 with districtmetering area module 370, according to an exemplary embodiment.Interface 400 is configured to display data generated for one or more ofthe district metering areas specified for a utility supply network.Interface 500 may further be utilized to control the operation of one ormore components of a utility supply network, initiate and controlgeneration of district metering areas as described herein, etc.

Designation of meters measuring inflows and/outflows to a proposeddistrict metering area allows generation of the district metering areawithout requiring that the utility supplier specify a network graphbased on named nodes and named arcs with its inherent complications.Naming zones and designating inflow and outflow meters as supply and/ordemand meters within the named zone has been found to be sufficient tocapture and represent a directed acyclic graph describing a districtmetering area zone.

Network control system 110 is shown in additional detail, according toan exemplary embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram conceptuallyillustrating example components of the network control system 110. Inoperation, the network control system 110 may include computer-readableand computer-executable instructions that reside on the network controlsystem 110, as is discussed further below.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the network control system 110 may include anaddress/data bus 300 for conveying data among components of the controlsystem 110. Each component within the control system 110 may also bedirectly connected to other components in addition to (or instead of)being connected to other components across the bus 300. The controlsystem 110 may include one or moremicrocontrollers/controllers/processors 310 that may each include acentral processing unit (CPU) for processing data and computer-readableinstructions, and a memory 320 for storing data and instructions. Thememory 320 may include volatile random-access memory (RAM), non-volatileread only memory (ROM), non-volatile magnetoresistive (MRAM) and/orother types of memory. The control system 110 may also include a datastorage component 330, for storing data andmicrocontrollers/controller/processor-executable instructions (e.g.,instructions to perform one or more steps of the methods illustrated inand described herein). The data storage component 330 may include one ormore non-volatile storage types such as magnetic storage, opticalstorage, solid-state storage, etc. The control system 110 may also beconnected to removable or external non-volatile memory and/or storage(such as a removable memory card, memory key drive, networked storage,etc.) through input/output device interfaces 340.

Computer instructions for operating the control system 110 and itsvarious components may be executed by themicrocontroller(s)/controller(s)/processor(s) 310, using the memory 320as temporary “working” storage at runtime. The computer instructions maybe stored in a non-transitory manner in non-volatile memory 320, storage330, or an external device. Alternatively, some or all of the executableinstructions may be embedded in hardware or firmware in addition to orinstead of software.

The control system 110 includes input/output device interfaces 340. Avariety of components may be connected through the input/output deviceinterfaces 3400, such as a display or display 342; a keyboard 344; andother components. The display 302, keyboard 344, and other componentsmay be integrated into the control system 110 or may be separate. Thedisplay 342 may be a display of any suitable technology, such as aliquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode display,electronic paper, an electrochromic display, a cathode ray tube display,a pico projector or other suitable component(s).

The input/output device interfaces 340 may also include an interface foran external peripheral device connection such as universal serial bus(USB), FireWire, Thunderbolt, Ethernet port or other connection protocolthat may connect to networks 350. The input/output device interfaces 340may also include a connection to antenna 346 to connect one or morenetworks 350 via a wireless local area network (WLAN) (such as WiFi)radio, Bluetooth, and/or wireless network radio, such as a radio capableof communication with a wireless communication network such as aLong-Term Evolution (LTE) network, WiMAX network, 3G network, etc.

The control system 110 further includes a network control module 360that controls the operation the components in a utility supply network.Module 360 may be one or more computer programs and/or controllersincluding executable instructions that may be embedded in hardware orfirmware in addition to, or instead of, software. For example, networkcontrol module 360 may be configured to control the operation of flowmeasurements devices 132 based on the district metering analyticsgenerated for the district metering area, such as restricting flowthrough a flow measurement devices having remotely controlled shut offor restriction valves. Additionally, control module 360 may beconfigured to utility billing for district metering areas, water lossreporting, generating work orders to replace improperly sized flowmeasurement devices 132, reprogramming of flow measurement devices toadjust measurement resolution, etc.

The control system 110 may further include a district metering areamodule 370 configured to implement a district metering area algorithm asdescribed herein. The DMA algorithm is configured to executeinstructions to generate, modify, utilize, etc. district metering areasas described herein. “Algorithm” is a set of instructions to be followedin calculations or processing, especially by a computing device. In acomputer implemented method or system, the term algorithm may be usedinterchangeably with the terms “rules” or “instructions,” to refer to asequence of steps to be carried out by a computer processor implementinginstructions encoded in memory. An algorithm can be encoded in programcode stored on a physical storage medium.

District metering area module 370 may be configured to determine the netutility flow discrepancy between the supply and demand meters in a DMAmay represent unaccounted for water or revenue loss. The net utilityflow discrepancy between the sum of supply and demand meters is theamount that the utility supplier needs to track. Network control system110 may be configured to include threshold values of the net utilityflow discrepancy where crossing the threshold will trigger an alert,initiate water shut off, etc. Network control system 110 may further beconfigured to track changes over a defined period of time, changes froma standard deviation in the net utility flow discrepancy, changes overany defined amount, etc.

Specifically, if the sum of supplies is more than the sum of demand,control system 110 determines that a measured utility supply loss isoccurring within the district metering area. The measured loss may becaused by a variety of factors such as theft, measurement issues,utility supply network breakages such as pipe breaks, power line breaks,etc., leaky pipes, etc.

Alternatively, if the sum of demand is more than the sum of supply,control system 110 determines that supply meters are oversized. Inmeasuring the flow of a utility through a flow measurement device, theflow measurement device may be configured to detect a flow in the meterand record units of the utility being supplied and/or demanded. Forexample, in generating utility consumption data for a user having aresidential ⅝-inch water supply line with the typical residential meter,a meter register associated with the residential meter may have aresolution of 1/10 of a gallon. The meter register will measure a flowoccurring even when that flow is less that the resolution amount,resulting in a measured value that is higher than the actual amount ofthe flow.

Referring now also to FIG. 4, network control system 110 is configuredto implement a network control interface 400 including a networkinformation bar 402 identifying the utility supply network beingcontrolled, the number of meters in the utility supply network, and acurrently selected district metering area. Control interface 400 furtherincludes a network control menu 410 including a plurality of selectablecontrol functions allowing a user to tag specific meters, control flowmeasurement devices for specific accounts, control flow measurementdevices for specific locations, flow measurement devices for a selectedmeter, determine meter reading timing, etc. Control menu 410 furtherincludes a DMA reporting function 420, selection of which will initiatedisplay of a DMA reporting display 430.

DMA reporting display 430 is a graphical representation of consumptionover time for a district metering area selected in a drop-down menubased on selection of the DMA reporting function 420. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 4, a district metering area associated with a campus zone422 has been selected from a list also including an irrigation zone 424and a main zone 426. As shown in the figure, campus zone 422 is definedby 1 meter designated as a supply meter and 29 meters designated asdemand meters.

Reporting display 430 depicts two-line graphs: a first line graph 432representing an aggregate supply flow, the amount of measured flowentering campus zone 422 (in this case the amount measured at the singledesignated supply meter) and a second line graph 434 representing anaggregate demand flow, the amount of measured flow leaving campus zone422 (in this case the amount measured at the 29 designated demandmeters) at different intervals of time. One of ordinary skill wouldunderstand that reporting display 430 may be customized to display overdifferent time intervals, to display the net utility flow discrepancybetween supply and demand meters in the campus zone 422, and to displaya historical record of measured flows for the district metering area.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flow chart 500 illustrates the stepsimplemented by the DMA algorithm stored in the memory to configure adistrict metering area including flow measurement devices that may bedesignated as being included in multiple district metering areas and aseither supply meters or demand meters or both.

In a step 505, district metering area module 370 is configured toanalyze a utility network to determine zone topologies and identify theflow measurement devices 132 in the network within each of thedetermined zone topologies. The analytics may include optimization ofzone topologies based on inputs provided by a user including, but notlimited to, total flow amounts, geographic designations, water usedesignation, flow measurement device numbers, etc.

In a step 510, district metering area module 370 generates a zonedesignation for each of the identified flow measurement devices 132.Further, within each of the zone designation, each flow measurementdevice 132 is designated as being one of a supply or demand meter forthe zone designation. A single flow measurement device 132 may receivedifferent supply and/or demand designations for different zones, e.g., asupply designation for zone A and a demand designation within zone B.

In a step 515, district metering area module 370 generates a directedacyclic graph based upon the zone designations. The directed acyclicgraph is a directed graph with no directed cycles such that every flowmeasurement device 132 designated as a supply meter is upstream from atleast one flow measurement device 132 designated as a demand meter andno flow measurement device 132 designated as a supply meter isdownstream from a flow measurement device 132 designated as a demandmeter. Additionally, each flow measurement device 132 designated as ademand meter is necessarily downstream from at least one flowmeasurement device 132 designated as a supply meter. Each zone forms aunique district metering area.

In operation, flow measurement devices 132 generate meter data that istransmitted to system 110. The meter data can include utilityconsumption data stored at system 100 to provide a consumption over timerecord from each flow measurement device 132. The data record may bestored as flow timeseries data for the particular device 132 in a step520. In addition to the consumption data, the meter data may furtherinclude additional information specific to the flow measurement device132 such as tamper alerts, leak detection alerts, reverse flowindications, battery indication, meter condition information, etc.

In a step 525, district metering area module 370 is configured togenerate a flow timeseries for each zone by aggregating the flowtimeseries data for the particular devices 132 that were associated withthe zone in step 510. In a step 530, district metering area module 370is configured to generate DMA reporting display 430 for each districtmetering area identified by a zone as designated in step 515. DMAreporting display 430 is the graphical representation of consumptionover time, described above with reference to FIG. 4, for a districtmetering area.

In a step 535, network control module 360 is configured to perform oneof more network control actions based on the flow timeseries for eachzone generated in step 525 and/or displayed in step 530. The actionstaken may be made based on the net utility flow amounts and/ordiscrepancies between inflows at supply flow measurement devices anddemand flow measurement devices as described above with reference toFIG. 2. Exemplary network control actions may be, but are not limitedto, actuating remotely controlled valves at demand flow measurementdevices based on detected leak conditions, tampering conditions, theftconditions, billing issues, etc., restricting utility flow into a zoneat a supply flow measurement device based on the same, generatingutility supply accounting information for the zone and/or eachindividual demand flow measurement device, identifying full measurementdevice sizing issues and taking corrective action based upon the sizingissue, such as ordering device replacement, device reprogramming, etc.

Network control module 360 is configured to for dynamic limitation ofthe zones defining the district metering areas. For example, networkcontrol module 360 is configured to recognize the addition and/orremoval of a flow measurement device 132 from the network. Based on thisdetection, network control module 360 may be configured to generate newzones based on network topology and updating designation of flowmeasurement devices based on the addition of the new flow measurementdevice, implementing step 505 based on the detected new flow measurementdevice 132.

The present invention may be implemented in hardware and/or in software.Many components of the system, for example, network interfaces etc.,have not been shown, so as not to obscure the present invention.However, one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that thesystem necessarily includes these components. A computing device is ahardware that includes at least one processor coupled to a memory. Theprocessor may represent one or more processors (e.g., microprocessors),and the memory may represent random access memory (RAM) devicescomprising a main storage of the hardware, as well as any supplementallevels of memory, e.g., cache memories, non-volatile or back-up memories(e.g., programmable or flash memories), read-only memories, etc. Inaddition, the memory may be considered to include memory storagephysically located elsewhere in the hardware, e.g. any cache memory inthe processor, as well as any storage capacity used as a virtual memory,e.g., as stored on a mass storage device.

The hardware of a computing device also typically receives a number ofinputs and outputs for communicating information externally. Forinterface with a user, the hardware may include one or more user inputdevices (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a scanner, a microphone, a webcamera, etc.) and a display (e.g., a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)panel). For additional storage, the hardware my also include one or moremass storage devices, e.g., a floppy or other removable disk drive, ahard disk drive, a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), an optical drive(e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) drive, a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) drive,etc.) and/or a tape drive, among others. Furthermore, the hardware mayinclude an interface to one or more networks (e.g., a local area network(LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless network, and/or theInternet among others) to permit the communication of information withother computers coupled to the networks. It should be appreciated thatthe hardware typically includes suitable analog and/or digitalinterfaces to communicate with each other.

This has been a description of the preferred embodiments, but it will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that variations may bemade in the details of these specific embodiments without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present invention, and that such variationsare intended to be encompassed by the following claims.

We claim:
 1. A computer implemented method implemented on a computersystem including non-transient memory storing instructions forconfiguring a plurality of district metering areas within a utilitysupply network, comprising: identifying a plurality of flow measurementdevices, wherein each flow measurement device is connected by adirectional connection to at least one other flow measurement device;generating a utility supply network representation based on thedirectional connections between the flow measurement devices; andgenerating a plurality of district metering areas for the utility supplynetwork representation, each district metering area being a directedacyclic graph based on the directional connections and including asubset of the plurality of flow measuring devices and including at leastone flow measurement device designated as a supply meter and at leastone flow measurement device designated as a demand meter.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein at least one flow measurement device is designatedas a supply meter in a first district metering area and designated as ademand meter in a second district metering area.
 3. The method of claim1, further including generating a listing of flow measurement devicesthat are not included in a subset for a district metering area for theutility supply network representation.
 4. The method of claim 1, furtherincluding determining a net utility flow discrepancy based on acomparison of the aggregate supply flow, measured by flow metersdesignated as supply meters, and the aggregate demand flow, measured byflow meters designated as demand meters.
 5. The method of claim 4,further including replacing one or more meters in a district meteringarea based on a determination that the aggregate supply flow has beenless than the aggregate demand flow over one of a defined period of timeand by a defined amount.
 6. The method of claim 4, further includinginitiating loss mitigation in a district metering area based on adetermination that the aggregate supply flow has been greater than theaggregate demand flow over one of a defined period of time and a definedamount.
 7. The method of claim 4, further including modifying theoperation of one or more flow measurement devices based on thedetermined net utility flow discrepancy.
 8. The method of claim 1,further including regenerating the utility supply network representationand the plurality of district metering areas for the utility supplynetwork based on a detected change to one or more flow measurementdevices in the utility supply network.
 9. A computer system executinginstructions, stored in non-transient memory, for configuring aplurality of district metering areas within a utility supply network,comprising: a network control system configured to identify a pluralityof flow measurement devices, wherein each flow measurement device isconnected by a directional connection to at least one other flowmeasurement device and generate a utility supply network representationbased on the directional connections between the flow measurementdevices; and a district metering system configured to generate aplurality of district metering areas for the utility supply networkrepresentation, each district metering area being a directed acyclicgraph based on the directional connections and including a subset of theplurality of flow measuring devices and including at least one flowmeasurement device designated as a supply meter and at least one flowmeasurement device designated as a demand meter.
 10. The computer systemof claim 9, wherein at least one flow measurement device is designatedas a supply meter in a first district metering area and designated as ademand meter in a second district metering area.
 11. The computer systemof claim 9, wherein the district metering system is further configuredto generate a listing of flow measurement devices that are not includedin a subset for a district metering area for the utility supply networkrepresentation.
 12. The computer system of claim 9, further includingdetermining a net utility flow discrepancy based on a comparison of theaggregate supply flow, measured by flow meters designated as supplymeters, and the aggregate demand flow, measured by flow metersdesignated as demand meters.
 13. The computer system of claim 12,wherein the district metering system is further configured to order thereplacement of one or more meters in a district metering area based on adetermination that the aggregate supply flow has been less than theaggregate demand flow over one of a defined period of time and by adefined amount.
 14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein thedistrict metering system is further configured to initiate lossmitigation in a district metering area based on a determination that theaggregate supply flow has been greater than the aggregate demand flowover one of a defined period of time and a defined amount.
 15. Thecomputer system of claim 12, wherein the district metering system isfurther configured to modify the operation of one or more flowmeasurement devices based on the determined net utility flowdiscrepancy.
 16. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the networkcontrol system is further configured to regenerate the utility supplynetwork representation and the plurality of district metering areas forthe utility supply network based on a detected change to one or moreflow measurement devices in the utility supply network.